Existing animal detection systems (“ADSs”) include sensor stations and warning stations. When an animal is detected by one of these sensor stations, the warning stations illuminate lights, which are intended to warn drivers of the presence of the detected animal.
There are only about 34 different locations in the world (12 in North America and 22 in Europe) where ADSs have been tested or permanently installed. Of those 34, only 8 are still in operation today. The majority of the ADSs that were removed had problems, which included (a) a high rate of false positives (providing a warning when an animal was not in the area), (b) a high rate of false negatives (providing no warning when an animal was in the area), (c) a wide variety of maintenance issues resulting from complex hardware that was difficult to fix and was not readily available, (d) an inability to accurately detect the direction in which an animal is moving, (e) large costs associated with the purchase and installation of ADSs, and (f) large bulky equipment that is not aesthetically pleasing. These problems have discouraged acceptance of ADSs installed along roadways.